GLOBAL WEALTH ACROSS ASSETS – THE UBS GLOBAL WEALTH REPORT
On your journey to financial freedom, you will accumulate, protect, and grow wealth by investing across multiple asset classes.
While financial analysis of individual assets is widely available, visualising and quantifying global wealth across assets is far more challenging due to a lack of consolidated data.
For instance, my go-to resource for tracking global wealth is the UBS Global Wealth Report, published annually. While its primary focus is on the distribution of wealth across regions, countries, and wealth brackets (income and net worth bands), it regrettably does not provide insights into the allocation of wealth across different asset classes.
This limitation arises from the UBS methodology, which calculates global wealth by measuring net individual equity—that is, the total value of assets minus debt liabilities. While this approach accurately reflects net global wealth, it does not fully capture capital deployment across all asset classes.
Nevertheless, we can estimate global wealth based on the graph below (Global Wealth Pyramid, 2023). UBS’s data, drawn from 56 markets representing over 92% of the world’s wealth in 2022, estimates total wealth at approximately $449.9 trillion.
GLOBAL WEALTH ACROSS ASSETS – THE JESSE MYER´s ANALYSIS
Given the lack of financial reports that provide segregated wealth data by asset class, I was thrilled to come across Jesse Myers‘ 2024 analysis of the total global wealth market. In this analysis, he offers a breakdown of global wealth across assets. In his own words, it
“undoubtedly overstates some categories and understates others, and may be missing some pieces altogether. The point is, this is a rough picture of all the world’s value. It’s something like $900T in total.”
To enhance clarity, I have represented Jesse’s data in tabular form (below).
| Asset | $ Trillion | % |
|---|---|---|
| BTC | 0.4 | 0.04% |
| Gold | 12.0 | 1.33% |
| Collectibles | 6.0 | 0.67% |
| Fine Art | 18.0 | 2.00% |
| Stock Market | 115.0 | 12.76% |
| Real Estate | 330.0 | 36.61% |
| Bonds | 300.0 | 33.28% |
| Money | 120.0 | 13.31% |
Based on Jesse´s figures, the largest portion of global wealth comes from Real Estate, which accounts for 36% of the total. The second-largest category is the Bond Market. Combined, these two asset classes alone make up 73% of total global wealth. Interestingly, this ratio aligns closely with the 80/20 Pareto principle, where a small number of inputs account for most outcomes.
Trailing behind by a significant margin is Money ($120 trillion, 13.31%) and the Stock Market ($115 trillion, 12.76%). At the lower end of the wealth distribution spectrum, we find asset classes such as fine art, gold, collectables, and Bitcoin.
It’s worth noting that the financial industry is far from absent when it comes to investment opportunities in these alternative asset classes—whether in Fine Art, collectables, or Crypto. Understanding their relative market sizes and emerging trends can help you make more informed decisions: stepping into these markets confidently or avoiding them with peace of mind.
The total wealth estimate presented here is significantly higher—roughly double—compared to UBS’s figures.
The total figure presented here is significantly higher than UBS’s — roughly double — because it measures gross assets: the sum of all asset classes before deducting any liabilities. This is not a discrepancy but a definitional difference. UBS measures net wealth, or net worth: assets minus liabilities, at the individual level. The two figures answer different questions. Throughout this article, gross assets refer to the total value of all assets held, with no liability deduction. Net wealth — or simply wealth — refers to what individuals actually own after debt is netted out. The gap between the two, at a global scale, runs to hundreds of trillions of dollars.
While UBS employs a bottom-up approach, aggregating individual net equity (assets minus liabilities), Jesse adopts a top-down perspective, estimating the market size of each asset class.
As Jesse cautions, these figures should not be taken at “face value.” Referring to the $900 trillion as the “Wealth” or “Balance Sheet” of the world does not account for the funding source of assets, whether equity or debt. Therefore, we should more correctly refer to it as Gross Assets.
Nonetheless, this analysis offers a valuable reference point for understanding the relative size of global markets and serves as a starting point for further validation or refinement.
GLOBAL WEALTH ACROSS ASSETS – ANALYSIS
In this spirit, I went down the rabbit hole, running the numbers across several Asset Classes and coming up with a “rather similar” result.
While the graph represents only Macro Asset Classes, the Excel table below provides more details on the sub-categories of the each asset class.
| Asset Class | Approx. Market Value ($) |
|---|---|
| Real Estate (Total) | |
| Residential RE | 210,000,000,000,000 |
| Commercial RE | 45,000,000,000,000 |
| Agricultural Land | 30,000,000,000,000 |
| Industrial RE – Other | 15,000,000,000,000 |
| Cash / Money | |
| Bank Deposits (M1, M2) | 90,000,000,000,000 |
| Physical Money | 10,000,000,000,000 |
| Money Market (Near Cash eq.) | 25,000,000,000,000 |
| Central Bank Reserves / Mo | 12,000,000,000,000 |
| Cryptocurrencies & Digital | |
| Bitcoin | 1,500,000,000,000 |
| Ethereum | 600,000,000,000 |
| Stablecoins | 120,000,000,000 |
| Other | 600,000,000,000 |
| Bonds | |
| Government | 70,000,000,000,000 |
| Corporate | 50,000,000,000,000 |
| Municipal + other | 8,000,000,000,000 |
| Public Equities | |
| Large Cap | 78,000,000,000,000 |
| Mid Cap | 22,000,000,000,000 |
| Small Cap | 10,000,000,000,000 |
| Commodities (Physical) – Annual | |
| Crude Oil – Energy | 3,000,000,000,000 |
| Gas – Energy | 1,500,000,000,000 |
| Coal – Energy | 600,000,000,000 |
| Gold – Metal | 13,000,000,000,000 |
| Agriculture | 2,000,000,000,000 |
| Commodities (Derivatives) | |
| — | |
| Precious Metals | |
| Gold Total Assets | 12,000,000,000,000 |
| Other M – Looking at your Net Worth, which asset classes compose your investment portfolio? Resident Real Estate? Public Equities? Gold? Crypto? Each asset class plays a distinct role in an investment portfolio, depending on your strategy and risk profile. While portfolio construction is beyond today’s scope—I covered that topic in My Personal Asset Allocation—having a clear understanding of global wealth markets—and the alternatives available—provides essential context for informed decision-making. Gaining a bird’s-eye view of the global market by asset class is like adding a map to your financial journey—an invaluable tool for navigating and managing diversified portfolios across multiple asset classes. PODCAST EPISODEIf you enjoyed this article on Global Wealth Across Assets Classes, don’t miss our dedicated Financial Diary episode of Sweat Your Assets, where we dive deep into its key lessons and insights! If you like this article on Global Wealth Across Assets, check out other Financial Wisdom in my Archive, YouTube videos, and Audio Podcasts. | |
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